Mosaic Fertilizer, a unit of The Mosaic Co., Plymouth, Minn., will spend approximately $30 million on air pollution controls that are expected to eliminate harmful emissions from sulfuric acid production plants in Uncle Sam, La., and Mulberry, Fla., the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Oct. 5. The company will also pay a civil penalty of $2.4 million to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations.
Under a settlement filed in federal court in New Orleans, Mosaic will install state-of-the-art pollution control equipment, upgrade existing controls, and make multiple modifications to its operating procedures to meet new, lower sulfur dioxide emission limits at its Uncle Sam facility. In addition, Mosaic agreed that it will permanently cease sulfuric acid production at its Mulberry sulfuric acid plant in Bartow, Fla. It also will not use the emission reduction credits associated with that shutdown to enable increased emissions at other facilities. These measures are expected to eliminate more than 7,600 tons of sulfur dioxide annually from the two plants.
“This settlement represents another important step by EPA as we address non-compliance with the Clean Air Act by sulfuric acid manufacturers,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “The more than 7,000 tons per year of sulfur dioxide reductions secured by this settlement will produce significant and measurable public health benefits for downwind communities.”
“We are pleased to reach this agreement which will bring Mosaic into compliance with the law and have a meaningful effect on the environment and community,” said John Cruden, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
“Mosaic is firmly committed to environmental stewardship and operating within regulatory standards,” said Rob Litt, a Mosaic spokesperson. “We worked closely with the EPA to identify this solution, which will bring our Uncle Sam plant’s emissions to levels well below current regulatory limits. The agreement also allows Mosaic the opportunity to demonstrate our leadership by implementing new advanced emission control technology not previously utilized in our industry.”
The government’s complaint, filed concurrently with the consent decree, alleged that Mosaic made modifications to its Uncle Sam facility that increased emissions of sulfur dioxide without first obtaining pre-construction permits and installing required pollution control equipment. The Clean Air Act requires major sources of air pollution to obtain such permits before making changes that would result in a significant emissions increase of any pollutant. The government discovered the modifications through a request for information to the company.
The state of Louisiana joined the federal government in the complaint and settlement, and will receive $600,000 of the penalty. The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.
This settlement is the sixth nationwide compliance agreement in a Clean Air Act initiative to improve compliance among acid production manufacturers. Earlier this year, settlements were announced with Chemtrade Logistics, Chemtrade Refinery Services, and Marsulex. Under all of the acid plant settlements to date, the companies are expected to spend a combined total of about $254 million on pollution control technology, remit almost $12 million in penalties, and eliminate approximately 44,340 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions per year.